1. What is a high protein diet?
A high protein diet is one where you work on getting plenty of protein — probably more than you are used to getting — as the first focus of your eating patterns. Protein-rich foods include eggs, meat, seafood, legumes, and dairy products. These foods are not only high in protein but high in nutrients in general. That means a high protein diet is also a high nutrition diet.
A high protein diet focuses on getting plenty of protein – probably more than you’re currently getting and this becomes the first focus of your eating habits. Protein rich foods include eggs, meat seafood, legumes and dairy products. They are not just high in protein but high in nutrients as well. Meaning when you are eating a high protein diet you are eating a highly nutritious diet too.
Increasing your intake of protein can be very helpful for weight loss as protein is proven to help tame your appetite. It is also the main source of raw materials needed to maintain your muscles and your metabolism, both of which ensure you are burning calories at the correct rate needed for your body to function properly.
For those wanting to build muscle, getting above the recommended amount of protein is particularly important. The numbers we see as the RDA (recommended daily allowance) are designed for “healthy people” and put in place to prevent malnutrition. These amounts are not set to help increase muscle mass or improve medical conditions such as type 2 diabetes.
Higher protein diets can have a positive effect on the treatment and prevention of type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, and possibly even heart disease. These diets are also beneficial in preventing sarcopenia, which is a loss of muscle mass that can occur as you age, and a related condition, osteoporosis which is a loss of bone mass.
2. How much protein is the average person eating now?
Putting into perspective whether you should eat a “high” protein diet is best put into perspective relative to the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) for daily protein, which is currently set at 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight.
For the average person who weighs 75 kilos that would equate to 60 grams of protein per day. That in food looks like 1.5 – 2 chicken breasts. For women, the protein intake RDA is even less around 50 grams of protein. However, the RDA is set as the minimum amount to prevent a protein deficiency. We cannot get confused by the minimum amount to prevent protein deficiency and the recommended amount to improve health – a distinction that is often misunderstood.
Most people are not eating enough protein for weight loss, metabolic health, and improving lean muscle mass and most women are not even reaching the RDA of protein to prevent deficiency.
3. What are the best high protein foods?
The best choices for high protein diets are foods with a higher protein percentage. The protein percentage of a food tells you how much protein per calorie a food has. To understand this better, see the chart below. Foods with a lot of protein and less fat and carbohydrates along with low fat, low carbohydrate foods with a lot of fibre.
Foods with an average protein percentage can help you maintain your weight and your muscle mass. Going a little higher – towards the 30%-35% mark may help you lose weight.
Foods on the chart with a lower protein percentage may lead to weight gain. For someone who is really trying to reduce their body fat and become lean and fit, foods with a higher protein percentage are optimal choices.
Most high protein foods not only pack a flavour punch but have plenty of necessary vitamins and minerals for the body to function. Here is a list of high protein foods which are readily available and can be cooked and added to meals easily.
Meat and poultry: beef, chicken, lamb, turkey
Seafood: shrimp, crab, salmon, tuna
Eggs: whole eggs or egg whites
Dairy: cottage cheese, greek yogurt
Legumes: beans, lentils, peas, and soy
Non-starchy vegetables: spinach, cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms, asparagus
If your meals consist mainly of the above foods, you are on your way to eating a healthy diet with plenty of protein.
Remember that although non-starchy vegetables may have a higher protein percentage than starchy they won’t give you the total protein, calories, or all the nutrients you require to meet your daily protein needs. Create your meals around a protein source – either from animals or plants then add vegetables with a high protein percentage for an extra boost of amino acids, vitamins and minerals.
What about fat? Add just enough to make your meals delicious – these are from unrefined sources like olive oil, coconut oil, avocados or nut butter. Always avoid seed oils as these cause a multitude of health problems. Following this approach will keep the total protein of your meals high and nutrient dense.
Here are a few easy ways to increase your protein intake and ensure you are getting adequate amounts without adding too many unnecessary calories:
- Add extra egg whites to your cooked eggs – scrambled or omelettes.
- Replace low protein and processed snacks like nuts, cheese or grab and go foods with higher protein options like boiled eggs, cold meats, protein powder or zero sugar jerky.
- Include high percentage protein foods to every meal such as shrimp, chicken breast, lean meats, tuna or tofu.
Swap out higher fat cheese and yoghurts with lower fat options like ricotta, cottage cheese or natural yoghurt. This means naturally low fat not processed options labelled as “low fat” as these are usually processed with seed oils and other unnecessary ingredients. Lower fat options such as ricotta and cottage cheese have a high protein percentage and therefore more protein per calorie.
3. High protein benefits
Six reasons why high protein diets offer many health benefits.
1. Weight Loss
Many studies prove following a higher protein diet helps with weight loss, especially fat mass loss.
2. Metabolic Benefits
When compared to lower protein diets research shows that a diet higher in protein contributes to better blood sugar control and improved insulin sensitivity.
While protein may increase insulin sensitivity for a short time a high protein diet is not known to cause chronic hyperinsulinemia (high insulin levels). Research suggests that for people with prediabetes or type 2 diabetes following a high protein diet is more beneficial than a lower protein way of eating.
3. Body composition
Higher protein diets promote lean muscle mass and encourage the body loss of fat.
4. Strength, bone health, and preventing frailty
The decline of muscle mass and bone health declines as we age, and if not corrected, can lead to physical implications such as frailty, loss of bone density and an increased risk of falls and bone fractures.
5. Satiety
High protein diets become an advantageous reason for weight loss and better glycemic control due to the protein’s ability to decrease hunger. Much research has shown that as the amount of protein increases, feelings of hunger and the amount of food desired throughout the day goes down.
4. How do we define a high protein diet?
- Diets with more than 25% of calories from protein
- Over 1.6 grams of protein per kilo of body weight
- Diets with more protein than the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA), which is set at 0.8 grams per kilo.
There is no ‘set in stone’ definition of what a high protein diet is or the amount of protein to consume to categorise being on a high protein diet. It depends really on where you start from.
I define adequate protein for clients at 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight and high protein as over 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day or about 25% of total calories. I recommend aiming for 1.6-2 grams of protein per kilo or approximately 25%-35% of calories from protein but more like 40% if following a high protein diet.
5. How much protein do I need?
- Your daily protein goal is based on your height, activity level and health goals.
- I recommend 1.6-2 grams per kilo of body weight.
- If you are physically active in your job, workout a lot or taller than 186cm stay at the higher end of the recommended protein range.
- Split your protein intake throughout the day, somewhere in the range of 30-40 grams per meal for women and 35-50 grams per meal for men. If you are eating three meals per day. If you are fasting then split your total protein goals by 2.
The first step in eating a higher protein diet is figuring out your protein targets. This means calculating and writing it down, plan your meals and don’t just guess.
If your days are very physically active, you are over 50 years old or all/most of your protein comes from plant sources then I recommend staying on the higher end of the protein range – above 1.6 grams per kilo of body weight. The same goes if you want to achieve low body fat, or you regularly practice intermittent fasting, you may want to take more of your daily calorific count to a higher percentage of protein over carbs and fat. Since there has been no scientific research that a higher protein diet does harm to the body you can feel confident in adding more.
Read more about spacing your protein out during the day and whether you need to count calories.
The other part to focus on is spacing your protein intake during the day as it may maximise the efficiency of absorption. If you eat 3 meals each day, aim to have 30 to 35 grams of protein each meal if you’re a women and 45 grams if your male.
If your plan is only to eat two meals a day you will need to increase your protein intake each meal significantly to meet those protein targets. You can also add high protein snacks such as eggs, edamame, lean meats or zero sugar jerky to meet your protein needs or any one of my suggested top 25 high protein snacks.
It’s interesting to note that eating more protein can fit in with any dietary plan. Whether you are following a vegan, vegetarian, Mediterranean or keto diet plan you may benefit from an increase in protein.
Calorie and macro counting.
It’s a good idea when increasing your protein intake to count grams of protein as people often underestimate their protein and total calorie intake. Keeping track via our Fit X Life App or another food tracking app such as myfitnesspal is a good way to confirm you are getting adequate amounts of protein as well as carbs and fats. Once you are familiar with your baseline and understand protein consumption you can stop counting.
6. Common concerns and misconceptions about high protein diets.
You will find multiple articles and outdated reports that high protein diets may be harmful to your kidneys, bones and blood sugar. Some scientists and medical professionals will even tell you that higher-protein diets can lead to higher rates of cancer.
When we look at kidney health and daily protein consumption, it is understood that those with severe chronic kidney disease should follow a lower protein diet. However the parallel to this is dietary protein will not cause kidney dysfunction in someone with healthy kidneys.
When we look at bone health in older adults – those primarily over 50 it was previously published that high protein intake would lead to osteoporosis by inducing metabolic acidosis – this is too much acid in the blood from protein). More recently studies have failed to prove that high protein intake causes loss of bone density and fractures. In fact, more research shows protein may be beneficial to bone health.
According to studies an increase in protein may improve blood sugar where historically we have been told a high protein diet could cause a significant rise in blood sugar but recently these concerns have been debunked.
In short, we need to consume adequate protein to prevent the loss of muscle tissue as we age.
What about animal versus plant protein?
All proteins are not the same.
Animal proteins are known as complete sources of protein and supply us with all nine essential amino acids whereas plant sources apart from soy are incomplete sources of protein.
This isn’t to say you can’t get all your essential amino acids from plant sources, it just means you will need to combine different sources such as beans with nuts or wholegrains.
Your body also metabolises animal protein more effectively than most plant proteins, meaning you can eat less for the same effective amount of protein. This isn’t to say you can’t get adequate protein from plants but it does mean you need to be cautious and potentially increase your intake goals by 20% or more.
It’s also important to note that plant sources of protein tend to be higher in carbohydrates than animal sources so if you are following a low carb or keto diet plan this can make reaching your protein goals harder and would be recommended to track your foods using our Fit X Life app or similar such as myfitnesspal.
Soy is a complete protein source and has very similar bioavailability, muscle building and weight loss benefits as animal proteins. Apart from soy, research suggests that animal protein may be more beneficial for increasing strength and maintaining muscle and may provide a better source of micronutrients, especially from red meat.
7. Got more questions about protein?
Got more questions regarding protein? Check out my FAQ “Top 15 questions about high protein diets” or book a 15 minute consultation with me. I offer Nutrition Coaching online or in-person and we can chat about how to increase your protein needs.